UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ AS/SCP/1317
Committee on Teaching
2000-2001 Annual Report
To the Academic Senate, Santa
Cruz Division:
The Committee on Teaching
(COT) met approximately twice per month to carry out its charge of fostering
and promoting the teaching mission of the campus. The work and accomplishments
of the Committee during the 2000-2001 year are summarized below.
Budget/Planning
Initiatives
The Committee submitted a
Long-Range Planning Initiative to the EVC's office. COT’s requests fell into
four categories: augmentation of funds for the award of Instructional
Improvement grants; augmentation of funds for Excellence in Teaching Awards;
provision of course relief for future chairs of COT; and permanent augmentation
of staff for the Center for Teaching Excellence.
COT requested that its annual
budget of $120,000 for the Instructional Improvement Program be augmented by
$100,000 permanently, bringing the IIP budget up to $220,000. In addition, COT
requested that this baseline budget be increased by $10,000 per year for the
next 10 years, bringing the budget to $320,000 by the end of the period. The
point of the latter request was simply to maintain the quality of teaching
support at its current level as the university adds 600 new faculty (including
300 new FTE). The purpose of the $100,000 augmentation was to allow COT to
better address Instructional Improvement proposals in the area of instructional
technology (see below). The majority of requests reviewed by COT are of this
type. Many technology-related instructional needs are met through divisional
funding. However, since COT is the only faculty body on campus with the
experience and charge of considering specifically the pedagogical merits of a
request, COT advocated its own involvement in technology-related allocations.
COT has received one-time augmentations for this purpose in past years. We note
that funding requests far outstrip our regular budget, and that COT is often
unable to fund proposals that it feels deserve funding. With the exception of
1998‑99 and 2000-2001 (both years in which EVC Simpson approved one‑time
technology augmentations), the annual budget for IIP grants has remained stable
at $120K for more than a decade.
COT requested a permanent
augmentation of $7,000 in order to double the amount of the Excellence in
Teaching Award, raising it from $500 to $1,000.
COT requested one course
relief annually for the Committee chair. Depending on that person’s department,
the amount of the course relief would range between $6,425 and $8,050. COT
Chair's duties have increased over time, making the case for course relief
reasonable.
COT requested a permanent
augmentation in the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) budget to allow for
the hiring of a full‑time additional staff member at the Assistant III
level or above.
Except for the Chair's course
relief, these initiatives were not approved. While this must be viewed in the
context of recent changes in the budget climate, we note that the quality of
instructional support provided by COT (and CTE) will decline significantly over
the next ten-year period unless these issues are addressed.
COT and the New Campuswide
Advisory Committees
COT was asked early in the
year by COC to consider sending a representative to two of the new campuswide
committees advisory to EVC Simpson: the Information Technology Committee (ITC),
and the Academic Planning Support Committee. After some discussion, COT concluded
that the Academic Planning Support Committee was not an appropriate committee
for a COT representative, while ITC was. The Chair of COT therefore joined the
ITC, chaired by Campus IT Consultant Larry Merkley, meeting biweekly for all of
the academic year. In the words of its charge, the ITC "provides an
administrative forum for reviewing, evaluating, and recommending strategies,
plans, and policies for campus information technology in order to support and
advance the campus efforts." Most relevant to COT, ITC carried out a
review of the campus's instructional technology requirements, and agreed to
establish a committee to effect changes that would improve instructional
support on campus, including the integration of currently dispersed units. ITC
also provided input on developing technological support for the writing of
narrative evaluations.
Instructional Improvement
Program Grants
One of the regular charges of
COT is to adjudicate applications for Instructional Improvement Program (IIP)
Grants. The Commmittee considered a total of 60 proposals. In all, 36 were
funded for a total of $209,994.75.
IIP grants fell into the
following categories:
Mini-grants are available throughout the year when COT is in
session. They support small-scale projects designed to improve undergraduate
instruction. Mini-grants have a maximum budget of $2,000. In the year-long
competition for Mini-grants, there were 15 funded projects for a total of
$24,357.14.
Course
Development Fellowships have provided
$6,000 to cover one course release for a fellowship recipient. (Starting this
coming year, the amount has been increased, to be tied in most cases to the
base salary of an Assistant Professor, step 3.) Course Development Fellows use
the course release to develop a new undergraduate course or program in their
departments or to make significant revisions in an older course. Recipients are
asked to present and discuss some of their work at a group workshop in the
following year. There were 13 applications for Course Development Fellowships,
totaling $78,000. Of these, 9 were funded for a total of $54,000.
New
Technologies in Teaching Grants offer
up to $15,000 for faculty who wish to experiment with incorporating new forms
of technology into instruction. Projects might involve specialized computer
software or hardware, course web sites, or technology more specific to a
discipline. There were 14 applications within this category. Eight requests
were funded, for a total of $88,771.61.
Major
Grants are for major projects aimed
at improving undergraduate education. These might involve the hiring of student
assistants and the development of internships, among other possibilities. Of 8
proposals received, COT funded 3, for a total of $42,866.
Various methods were used in
order to make the availability of the grant funding known. The annual Call for
Proposals was sent out early last Fall quarter; announcements were also made by
electronic mail. The Chair of COT and the Director of the Center for Teaching
Excellence held an open forum early in the Winter quarter for faculty
interested in the application process. The Center for Teaching Excellence also
offered individual consultations to grant applicants all year long, as it has
in the past.
Seventh Annual Convocation
on Teaching
With the Center for Teaching
Excellence, COT co-sponsored the Seventh Annual Convocation on Teaching, held
on February 9, 2001. The title was "The Changing Ecology of Teaching and
Learning at UC Santa Cruz". Three faculty members acted as panelists:
Bruce Cooperstein, Professor of Mathematics, William Ladusaw, Professor of
Linguistics and Provost of Cowell College, and Anatole Leikin, Associate
Professor of Music. The Chair of COT introduced the event and moderated.
Following the panel presentation, discussion was opened up to all attending.
Approximately 60 people attended the Convocation.
Excellence in Teaching
Awards
As in past years, in
selecting recipients for this award, COT considered nomination letters from
students, endorsement letters from department chairs, and statements on
teaching from the nominees themselves. Nominees who had already received an
Excellence in Teaching Award within the last 5 years were excluded from
consideration. Following past practice, COT also took into account information
provided by the Registrar's Office about outstanding narrative evaluations.
Nominees with missing evaluations were given an opportunity to explain or
correct the Registrar's report. Only those who were up to date on their
narratives were considered for an award.
COT selected 12 faculty for
Excellence in Teaching Awards. The awards were presented by the Chancellor and
the COT Chair at a University House reception on May 25. The recipients were:
Frank Andrews, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Jeremy Elkins, Lecturer
in Legal Studies; Dana Frank, Professor of American Studies; Frank Galuszka,
Professor of Art; Jody Greene, Assistant Professor of Literature; Conn
Hallinan, Lecturer in Writing; Jorge Hankamer, Professor of Linguistics;
Charlie McDowell, Professor of Computer Science; Daniel Palleros, Lecturer in
Chemistry and Biochemistry; Robert Shephard, Lecturer in Economics; Michael
Urban, Professor of Politics; Karen Tei Yamashita, Assistant Professor of
Literature and Creative Writing.
In addition, COT gave
honorable mentions to the following faculty: Jordi Aladro, Associate Professor
of Literature; Dilip Basu, Associate Professor of History; Margaret Downs
Baskin, Lecturer in Women's Studies; Grant Hartzog, Assistant Professor of
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Yonatan Katznelson, Lecturer in
Economics; Dennis Kelso, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies; Tracy
Larrabee, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering; Tara Martin, Lecturer in
Writing; Ellen Moir, Director of Teacher Development for the Department of
Education; Ralph Quinn, Lecturer in Psychology; Brian Staufenbiel, Lecturer in
Music; William Sullivan, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental
Biology; Amy Weaver, Lecturer in Writing.
COT Bylaw 13.28.1
COT proposed changes to Santa
Cruz Bylaw 13.28.1 that were approved at the last Academic Senate meeting last
year. This brings the constituency and charge of the Committee more in line
with COT's activities, and in addition codifies COT's role in overseeing the
Center for Teaching Excellence in matters pertaining to COT.
Miscellaneous
The COT Chair joined a
UC-wide committee to adjudicate a new category of Teaching, Learning, and
Technology Grants offered by UCOP. This committee worked by email, and then met
once in Oakland for the final adjudication.
Director Beth Riddle of
Instructional Computing and Manager Robin Ove of FITC demonstrated WebCT to
COT, a web-based instructional support program. COT offered to support greater
awareness of WebCT by arranging to have it demonstrated in certain departments.
COT read budget initiative
proposals from both Writing Across the Curriculum and Academic Support
Services, and sent memos advocating support, with some specific commentary, to
EVC Simpson.
Acknowledgments
The Committee is grateful for
the continuing indispensable contributions of Eileen Tanner, Director of the Center
for Teaching Excellence, and Laurie Babka, staff to COT from the Academic
Senate Office. Student representatives Isaac Menashe and James Sheldon provided
an invaluable perspective. We also thank Chris Laxton and Sheryl Martin-Schultz
of Media Services for their input to the committee.
Respectfully
submitted,
COMMITTEE
ON TEACHING
Robert
Anderson
Bruce
Cooperstein
Susan
Harding
Nicole
Paiement
Jaye
Padgett, Chair
September 20, 2001